Looks like 2014 is already 1/12th over. Despite off and on connection issues, our dedicated members have been hard at work makin' those submissions. In fact, you guys made over 2600 submissions in January. Which is very commendable considering the sporadic outages we've been experiencing. And if those outages have been keeping you away from making submissions and from the site in general, I've got some good news for you. There will be more info once it's all done, but rest assured everything will be lightning fast again by the end of the month.
So who made all those submissions in January? Well, it was mostly ApolloBoy with 757 submissions! ericeskapade had over 400, and HungryMoose and Shadow Kisuragi each had over 200. And of course, there were another 63 members who together made another 1000 submissions. So thanks to all of you who helped out this January, I know it wasn't easy with the downtime and sluggish load times.
As always, I'd like to thank our dedicated submission-approving team that has to deal with all of those submissions every month. Our top approvers in January were Tynstar and Shadow Kisuragi with over 700 and over 400 approvals respectively. Paully3433 also had over 100 approvals in January.
Thanks again everyone, and if you've been putting off those submissions because of our site issues, be assured it will be getting better, but as always, good things take some time, so expect things to get speedier by the end of February, and possibly sooner, depending on how smoothly things go. We're definitely trying to roll out these changes as quickly as we can.
As video games become more culturally relevant, the skills and artistry needed to create such media becomes more appreciated. The occasional name-drop such as Will Wright, Sid Meier, or Hironobu Sakaguchi gives deserved credit and helps gamers to find and follow those responsible for their favorites. However, like movies or music bands, many of the other important and project-defining people are rarely listed or known.
One such under-credited job are the teams responsible for porting a pre-existing game to different hardware. Like a movie's editor or lighting director, if the job is done well it's easy to forget them, but if something goes bad...
And gaming has certainly had its share of bad ports;
From the passable (Killer Instinct on SNES)
to the abysmal (Street Fighter II on ZX Spectrum)
to the notorious. (Pac-man on Atari 2600)
Despite the fact that the large majority of gamers do not have any working knowledge of how a video game is made, many assume that the process of porting a video game from one console to another, especially onto more powerful hardware, is a simple and straightforward task. For example, the original Sonic the Hedgehog was released in '91, so putting a version of it on much more powerful hardware made ten years later should be a cinch, right? For anyone unfortunate enough to pick up the glitchy, frame-rate stuttering, tinny sounding Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis port that came out on the Game Boy Advance, apparently it's not as easy as CTRL-C and CTRL-V with a few touch-ups.
It is perhaps more understandable to have problems when a new game is developed for multiple systems around the same time. Battlefield 4 has become a poster child for the disaster of releasing what appears to be an unfinished, buggy game with intentions to patch later. Frustrating as it is, one thing to keep in mind is that within a fairly short window, the game released for (count 'em!) PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows. Four consoles and PC, each with very different hardware and challenges, two of which are completely new to the developer. Sure, other games have released across this spectrum, including EA's own much-better running Need for Speed: Rivals. However, Battlefield 4 has a massive online player count, a (mostly) high frame rate, and many features and components that arguably push the respective systems beyond contemporary releases. In short, to have such a massively complex game with five different builds release close to the same time is an undertaking the average game player honestly cannot comprehend.
Don't think I'm letting EA or Dice off the hook, mind you! I've had the PS4 version of Battlefield 4 and Premium since day one, and it's been a yo-yo of excitement and disappointment. Certainly, I think if the game wasn't ready for release, it should have had longer to cook, and likely some systems are requiring more work than others to fix completely unrelated issues across platforms. Even games released for a single system can wait months, or indefinitely, for corrective patches. That Battlefield 4 has seen multiple patches across all five platforms since release (and still has issues across the board) speaks to the monumental challenge of making each version work as intended. Obviously, even with the money and manpower behind one of gaming software's biggest juggernauts, these problems cannot be easily resolved.
In a completely different area of ports, there are the challenges for Farsight Studios, makers of The Pinball Arcade. Whereas Zen Studio's popular Pinball FX series takes pinball into magical realism with tables that only exist in the virtual realm, The Pinball Arcade is an attempt to replicate, as close as possible, original real-world machines. From buying and deconstructing the actual pinball tables, digitizing all the art, and creating 3D models of each visible component, Farsight Studios takes a painstaking, documentary-like approach usually only seen in series like Gran Turismo or Forza.
Here's a glimpse at their process:
http://www.nintendolife.c...wii_u_3ds_and_kickstarter
Next to the eye-candy of Pinball FX2's tables (including my favorites, Plants Versus Zombies and Empire Strikes Back) the extraordinary work involved in a digital replica of original tables can easily go unappreciated. Sadly, here Farsight Studios often doesn't help itself. I own most of their physical collections, and the most recent disc copy of The Pinball Arcade has an ultra low-budget feeling front end. Despite being released for multiple systems, there are no cross-buy options. There have been occasional sound and support issues, and the patch list of fixes and soon-to-come features is even larger than Battlefield 4's. Yet despite all this, (and undoubtedly having a small team to work with,) Farsight's underdog work in keeping pinball alive in a digitized form has kept me on their virtual tables much longer than Pinball FX, and despite its clunkiness the PS4 disc has stayed put in the system.
But my favorite example of a recent port brimming with passion for the source is definitely Galaxy Force II on the 3DS, part of the Sega 3D Classics line. As much as I like Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shinobi III, adding 3D to these classics comes across as a nifty but completely unnecessary parlor trick. Galaxy Force II, on the other hand, was designed as a 3D perspective game using nifty sprite wizardry. Out of SEGA's back catalogue considered for 3D ports, those with 'Super-Scalar' technology are the premier chance to put the effect to great use.
Initially, I had no real interest in Galaxy Force II for the 3DS. It had many strikes against it as a digital-only release of a game with a history of unimpressive home ports, whose only notable new feature was something I never use. (To be fair about the home ports, I never imported the PS2 Sega Ages version, though now price and not interest is the barrier.) However, a chance read over at www.hardcoregaming101.net lead to this interview:
http://blogs.sega.com/201...erview-with-developer-m2/
And after reading about the crazy amount of passion for this project, I was enamored with how the team tackled each challenge. Despite the massive increase in hardware power the 3DS represents over a 1988 arcade board, their description of the process involved requiring encyclopedic knowledge of the original hardware and a constant search for efficient coding tricks in order to get the game running. Then running at 60FPS, then running with sound, then running in 3D, then running in 3D with a perspective of riding the original moving cabinet. It's a fascinating read, especially to gamers who assume that a simple copy-paste rom and some tweaks are all it takes to get a game running on hardware other than the original.
After becoming so impressed with the effort involved, and since the fruit of their efforts was available for six bucks, I decided to give it a shot, and now I realize that reading developer interviews may be dangerous for my wallet.
You wouldn't expect a game from 1988 to be the showpiece for the 3D on the 3DS. But after viewing the game with the slider almost all the way up, this was the first 'wow' experience I've had that stayed that way through the entire game. Even jostling the screen around and having the angle occasionally pop in and out of 3D while getting into the game, I never wanted to move that slider. Galaxy Force II felt as if it were a game designed around the effect, and the fluidity and responsiveness made the game play more like a nostalgic mind's eye version instead of a cruel reality version of an old classic.
Sure, it took longer to read the article than to complete the game (admittedly with some helps turned on to relieve some of that old-school quarter-munching gameplay) but the game is so much fun to play, I want to go right back to it. Every ounce of dedication I read about is visible onscreen and felt in the action. What could have been a cheap, quick cash-in on an old name feels like a true labor of love and a reminder of why SEGA's arcade days were so lauded.
It's a cheap download with no substantial marketing, a quickly-finished arcade experience in a list of hundreds of games for a system who's namesake feature has been abandoned even by its creator. Developer M2 no doubt knows just how niche this little game is, and yet they treated it as if they were given a precious gem to shine and display brighter than ever before.
When ports go bad, everybody points a finger and moves on. When a port is good, gamers tend to shrug and just pick it up for their system of choice, often not giving a second thought as to the immense work it likely took to get there. When a port is a passion project, built with care and attention, sometimes it becomes even better than the original and deserves attention.
So kudos and thanks to all the artists, programmers, engineers, and talent that occasionally, quietly produce a port that shows their passion. 
[img width=700 height=525]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/parasiteevekingdomheartsv2_zpsf45e3216.jpg[/img]
We hope everyone is enjoying playing the Nintendo titles in January's retro and modern playthroughs. Next month we are heading back to the Playstation to play two rather popular titles from their day: Parasite Eve (PSX) and Kingdom Hearts (PS2).
Parasite Eve:
You the participants selected and voted on the PSX game for February and the results are in! Now it's time to join us this month in one of the PSX's most renowned survivial horror games, Parasite Eve. You play as Aya Brea, a rookie New York City cop who witnesses an opera audience gathered at Carnegie Hall spontaneously burst into flames in front of her eyes. She then confronts the evil Melissa Pearce (later known as Eve), an actress and the only other person in the theater that didn't burst into flames, and gets a small clue into the reason behind these events. Along side Aya, you follow pursuit in a means to unravel this riddle, stop the destruction of humanity, and discover what peculiar role you play in these events.
Link to discussion thread here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=13499.0
Kingdom Hearts
King Mickey has been kidnapped and it's up to the player, in the role of Sora, to rescue him! In one of gaming's most amazing crossovers, swing your Keyblade through many magical worlds and encounter countless Disney and Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts. This action RPG has spawned many sequels and earned quite a cult following. Now is your chance to join your fellow community members to either experience the magic for the first time or revisit your old favorite.
Link to discussion thread here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...x.php?topic=13500.new#new
________________________
As always, the playthrough group welcomes your feedback, whether it be positive or negative, on our playthroughs. In the past, we have asked participants to leave feedback at the end of the month on the various playthrough threads, but have received very sparse results. Maybe it's because we are doing an outstanding job, which is a good thing, but regardless, we would like to hear from you. As a result, we have created a new sticky thread with a "suggestion card" that you can cut and paste into the thread and provide us with some feedback. Thread located here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=13495.0. If you are not comfortable sharing your feedback, please send Fleach, grayghost81, techwizard, or myself (singlebanana) a PM. We are anxious to hear from you and hopefully we can increase the participation and fun in our playthroughs.
Like other collectors on this site, I'm blessed in that years ago I bought, and kept, many video games that have risen in value over the years. Over time I've seen games for classic systems such as the NES, SNES, and Saturn go from a couple of bucks at most to several hundred dollars in value. My original Panzer Dragoon Saga was bought new at EB for $20; most of us have similar stories.
The flip side, naturally, is that I regret not tracking down Radical Rex for Sega CD before it became a $200+ CIB item. While I don't have much desire to play a decidedly average platformer (and one that I already have on two other systems beside) that does mean that grabbing the last few titles to make a complete Sega CD library is cost-prohibitive. It's easier to justify saving up or trading for that rare gem of a game that you love or always wanted to play, even more so if it's one of the last games for a collection. But few can deny that the mystique surrounding Stadium Events is because of its unavailability and not its gameplay; otherwise World Class Track Meet would be on more lists for top ten NES favorites. All this is restating the obvious, but things get interesting with the modern state of retro gaming and the economics of both our industry and the world at large.
Video games have proliferated our culture from both financial spectrums: the top down (expensive new consoles) to the bottom up (free mobile and browser games) so that the industry is enjoying a new ubiquity. Early eras were mostly coined by a single system, and to say you played video games meant you played Atari, or later the NES. As the market and competition grew, so did the visibility of an entire spectrum of available game machines. While there have always been extreme fanboys for respective systems and companies, most of the time the playing field was close enough that to be a 'gamer' meant pretty much the same thing to everyone.
What started as 'console wars' has now grown into such a diversified stratification that various sub-groups have no connection to each other. New terms such as 'casual' and 'hardcore' have become classifications that are coined to distinguish video game playing habits, and these camps are sometimes vehemently exclusive in nature. I've heard a 25-hour-a-week World of Warcraft player say she wasn't a 'gamer', and friend who has a phone loaded with Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, and a dozen others (that I see her play often) claim that she doesn't play video games. In the similar vein, I've witnessed devoted Call of Duty and Madden players completely dismiss any Nintendo console as worthless, as well as many a retro gamer completely disregard any system or game after the PS2 era as having nothing to play.
It is within this diverse stratification that we retro game collectors find ourselves in a new, interesting territory. Since the hobby began, there has been, and always will be, worthwhile video game experiences that are locked behind prohibitive barriers of price and availability. That's just the nature of the beast in any luxury entertainment industry. But imagine Citizen Kane or Star Wars, two inarguably important cultural movies, being largely unavailable to the public. Perhaps they are only available on an old film stock and require aged technology that is incompatible with current displays, or they are available on modern media but are limited to a few thousand copies and are therefore incredibly expensive. What if countless movies of worth are completely unavailable to most people who would desire to experience them, even willing to pay reasonable amounts for them, but can't afford the huge expenses necessary to purchase what would ordinarily be reasonably priced and available?
Of course this is already true for movies. Some folks like myself still await non-bootleg versions of Song of the South, Captain EO, and Let It Be to see release. (If you haven't, check out Hugo. Excellent movie that gives a real glimpse of what's already been lost.) There are an untold number of movies that have, for various reasons, never become available to the modern public.
When it comes to video games, arguably the most technology-driven entertainment industry, we are perhaps most susceptible to more and more games becoming completely unavailable over time. As has been noted, the rise of digital-only distribution and server-based software puts virtual timers on a game's later availability, and therefore its ultimate ability to impact and influence, or at least entertain.
For retro collectors, this issue has become one of economics as well. The resurgence of interest and popularity of retro video games, including originals and new games mimicking older art, music, and gameplay styles, has refreshed a market once known for offering countless titles for next to nothing at any yard sale or flea market. Many of us collectors remember the days of buying an Atari, NES, SNES, and almost any other game system with a box of games and accessories for a couple of bucks any given summer. Now that retro video games are a big market, the corollary is that these bargain finds have mostly dried up, giving way to eBay and Craigslist selling for hundreds what once went for pennies.
Not that this is surprising or even necessarily unfortunate. However, as the years go by more and more great games are becoming cost-prohibitive to gamers who would otherwise pay 'reasonable' money for sought-after games. If you're reading this far into the article, you likely know many of the names: Earthbound, the aforementioned Panzer Dragoon Saga, Little Samson, Metal Warriors, M.U.S.H.A., Master of Monsters, Lucienne's Quest, Magical Chase, Beyond Shadowgate, and the list goes on and on. More and more uncommon games such as Hagane have gone from cheap obscurities to valuable collectables, and prices on rarer games such as Snow Bros. and Aero Fighters have doubled or tripled in only a few years. Sometimes these are temporary spikes, but often the prices level out higher and higher. There are many factors to account for this, including mentions on popular sites like the Angry Video Game Nerd and Racketboy, and the adjusted prices of normal inflation. And naturally, as the years go by and more people develop interest in retro video games, the laws of supply and demand mean fewer games going for higher prices across a larger pool of people.
What this has done and will continue to do is price more and more retro video games out of the availability to the average-income video game player, collector or not. As they age, video games naturally become more difficult to find as retailers replace them with newer titles and systems. Since most consoles are not backwards compatible, even the availability to play retro video games is slowly diminishing. Digital rereleases and newer streaming models such as PlayStation Now will help, but only temporarily, due to their own inherent ethereal design.
Whereas a board game can be rebuilt and replicated, and movies are mostly transferred to newer media, the pool of older video games are becoming smaller, generally pricier, and overall less available. In another decade or two, prices on even common pre-PlayStation era games may be inconsistently priced next to their modern brethren. Certainly today, it is cheaper for me to pick up a full-priced modern game rather than any of the hundreds of retro video games on my to-complete-this-system-library-list. To collect the bulk of Atari, NES, and SNES games in any given region has always been a crazy task, but most games were more readily available for cheaper prices only a few years ago. It has been many a collector's lament, myself included, to have not picked up more when it was available for cheaper.
There are plenty of exceptions, such as the myriad Namco and Midway Collections, and a new trend as of late for HD rereleases like Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and Kingdom Hearts. On a rare occasion, older games get a new lease on life such as the recent rerelease of the SNES oddity Super Noah's Ark 3D. But the vast majority of video games are going the way of the early decades of the film industry and the first few thousand years of musical development, disappearing forever.
While I certainly find all of this more than a bit sad, it is of course the natural progression of entertainment culture. Even with our ability to record and store our media with greater permanence than ever before, the scope and practicality of completely preserving our forms of entertainment and artistic expression is beyond our means. But the desire to preserve and maintain is not at the expense of advancement and growth. It is to cherish, reflect, and learn from the past. Students of history tend to know more of the future than those over-focused on the present. Like all media of its time, video games are a reflection of where culture is in technology, morals, ethics, thought, expression, language, and change. They are a unique, interactive snapshot of their time. There is genuine worth in keeping this stuff around!
This is why I enjoy being part of the RFGeneration community. We keep the flames of video game culture alive, passing the torch to each other with each game recommendation, review, and long-winded article (ahem). Site members here are have shown a very uncommon generosity and kindness to each other in the form of free gifts, helpful information, community gaming experiences, and a general sense of goodwill that reminds me more of the ancient BBS dial-up days rather than what is mostly seen on today's internet.
The retro and collecting video game community is alive and well here at RFG, and we have brought to it a sense of worth. There's no solution to preserving every video game ever made, and probably not a healthy reason to do so. But this site, and community, makes preserving our video game culture legacy a visibly positive, worthwhile effort.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/overlookrpg_zpsaeaab780.jpg[/img] Bonus Super Awesome points if you know the connection between the picture and this article's topic
The video game industry is huge; it's one of the fastest growing industries alongside film. Now with outlets like Steam, Origin, and a myriad of digital distribution platforms gamers have more ways than ever before to play and experience the latest of what the creative minds in games have to offer. There are also more developers many who owe much to crowd funding and self-publishing. So why, with all these creators, retailers, and distributors, don't we see more RPGs?
The primary point of attention is that members of the games industry, like any other industry, are out to make money. Many people have said it before, myself included, that when it comes to games we vote with our dollars. Kickstarter is the perfect example of this. If a project interests you and you want to see it come to fruition you back it financially. It could be the genre, the developer, or an exciting gameplay mechanic that entices you to pledge support. Looking at Double Fine and their crowd funding campaign for Broken Age shows us that a genre once considered long forgotten still has eager and enthusiastic fans. Without digressing too much, this particular game might have benefited a fair bit from the "right time, right place" idiom. Without Telltale Games' The Walking Dead becoming a huge success we might not have other point-and-click adventures like Kentucky Route Zero (which is super cool and very eerie!) or the aforementioned Broken Age.
Still, could RPGs experience a similar revival? It's important to look at the numbers when considering this question. In 2012 the video game industry generated approximately $21 billion in revenue1. That's a lot of sales. To put that into perspective, if that total were to only be physical retail games priced at $60 it would equate to 350 million games sold. But this number includes handheld, mobile, DLC, and digitally distributed games which made up nearly $15 million of this total. This all indicates that gamers are spending large sums over various platforms and even within games. At the top of the sales charts is the action genre accounting for nearly one quarter of the total revenue.
[img width=700 height=628]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/gamesalesbygenre_zps14ed1751.jpg[/img]
At least RPGs outsold racing games. Take that Forza 5!
It comes with no surprise that action games represent the top selling genre. They're fun. They're fast-paced. They have explosions! Simply put, they echo whats popular in the film industry. This is not wrong by any means; ever since video games have become bigger and more cinematic they would naturally be influenced by big budget, high grossing movies. From a gamer point of view action titles play an important part in gaming libraries. The gun fights test a player's hand-eye coordination, and reacting to sudden events challenges a person's reflexes and reaction times. These are all vital skills to have in real life, so in a strange way it can be said that action games prepare us for unexpected circumstances. Video games in general have real life benefits. Look at the case of the 10-year-old boy whose Mario Kart playing helped him steer a car to safety (Article here).
It can be, and likely is, argued that Role Playing games can benefit players as well. These games require map reading skills, strategic thinking, and anticipating an opponent's next move. Not an as exciting skill set, but next time you outwit someone thank Fire Emblem.
[img width=400 height=380]http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/actheroineguide1.jpg[/img] "Create a distraction by throwing a stick away from the Sasquatch, toward the forest"
The unfortunate reality that many RPGs face is that the games usually receive poor publicity and marketing. This ends up with people calling these games "niche," but the case really is that the public and the advertisers have brought about this classification. It's a cyclical correlation that few people buy these games because of the little efforts spent towards promotion. If the next Final Fantasy had TV commercial slots like Fifa 14, or got more attention from the games news outlets the game could have the potential to reach a wider audience. This would ideally translate into greater sales, and ultimately into more games of the genre.
But that's wishful thinking.
Yes RPGs don't have as wide an appeal as other genres, but to debate this ends up in bickering over small things. Games of all genres have noteworthy qualities and nitpicking certain personal gripes just shows fanboyism and unwillingness to try something different of the gaming population. Sure, RPGs are overlooked, but there are too many factors to overcome to completely remedy the situation.
Perhaps the bold new ideas we can see from developers collaborating with genre veterans2 will prove that there enough people who love these games to bring forth an RPG renaissance. We'll just have to wait and see.
Hello everyone! Since it's been some time, I wanted to update everyone on where we are with all of the server problems that have plagued the site for months.
We've determined that our current server is no longer adequate for our needs. In repeated attempts to fix the site performance, we're maxing out the hardware, leaving us in a position of restarting the server once performance starts to dip. We're currently looking at various different hosting options, and we can definitely get better hardware for the same price that we're currently paying for our dedicated server.
We hope to have the decision made on our eventual host by the end of the month, and for the transition to occur before the end of February. Please note that there will likely be downtime while we transition hosts and ensure that the site is functioning at that time, but we will attempt to communicate out this downtime once we decide on a date.
In the mean time, the first thing to start failing when the site gets into a bad state are database queries to the collection table. This is our biggest table on the site (for obvious reasons - it contains the data for everyone's collections!), and understandably it will strain the server the most. If you notice functions around your collection starting to fail or statistics taking a long time to update, please notify us in the Announcements and Feedback forum and we'll schedule a server restart. For now, our plans are to restart the server on an as-needed basis, though that may move to weekly if we notice issues starting to arise more often.
When I have more information, I'll put up another blog post with the exact details. Thanks .
I've always been something of a salesperson for the video game experience. When I was little I enjoyed sharing our C64 with the neighborhood kids. When I was in middle school, I droned on about the incredible story of Final Fantasy II (IV) to mostly disinterested classmates. In high school, I was the nerd who recorded Gate of Thunder and Ecco the Dolphin onto a mix tape/CD and gave it to all my friends. In college I was constantly setting up huge LAN games in the computer labs. As an adult, I love how our entire family enjoys spending time gaming together.
And while I've always had particular games and genres I much preferred, I've never been much of a fanboy to the exclusion of a 'competing' side. As entertaining as Nintendo vs Sega, Madden vs NFL2k, or mouse/keyboard vs controller rivalries can be, even if I 'pick' sides I still appreciate everything video games have to offer. To completely dismiss and write off an alternative selection in gaming seems to me like a Pittsburgh Steelers fan loving the team but hating a rival team so much it affects their enjoyment of the sport. One gamer's Superman 64 is another gamer's Shadow of the Colossus. There's simply so much to video games in the modern world, it makes sense to keep an open mind about new experiences as well as to find and pursue preferences.
Even though I'm more resistant to digital download-only games than physical copies, I still investigate the market, and occasionally purchase and enjoy. I've made sure to pick up occasional sports titles and try them out, despite not really getting into one since Double Dribble and Blades of Steel. MMOs are inherently problematic for me due to the time required, but I love to read about Eve Online and experiments like Second Life. And while I've stopped short of installing a PC full of games for productivity reasons, I finally got a Steam account to tinker with. All this to say, basically, that when it comes to video games, I try not to just write anything off.
Well, except mobile games. I've liked a few, notably Plants versus Zombies and N.O.V.A., and I read about new titles on occasion. But by and large mobile and tablet gaming just did not appeal to me for a variety of reasons. Given how adult life and responsibilities keep gaming time at a premium, for me it has been the easiest sub-sector of gaming to dismiss. And since I don't think the average adult can keep up with everything in gaming anymore unless they work in the industry full time, I felt somewhat justified in keeping my not-interested-in-mobile/tablet gaming bias.
Which means I tend to miss out on some excellent experiences like Space Team.
The requirements can be a barrier; exclusively 2 to 4 player, on iOS and Android, only local play on WiFi or Bluetooth. And even directly next to a router, we experienced some occasional connection problems. But once we get started...
The idea is that you and your friend(s) are on a spaceship hurtling through the cosmos. At the beginning of every stage, the bottom two-thirds of your touch-screen is filled with randomly generated virtual dials, knobs, and switches, each labeled with goofy technobabble like P-muffler, Sloping Solvent, Harmonic Shutter, etc. Occasionally the scientific pretext is dropped completely in favor of humor, such as when you end up with a 'Make Waffles' or 'Eulogize Previous Crew' button.
Above your control panels, an instruction pops up, such as 'Turn Sloping Solvent to 2,' or 'Set Wafflemaker to On.' Under the instruction is a timer, and if the instruction is not followed, the ship takes damage. Too much damage and your ship falls apart, including panels that swing off hinges and have to be manually replaced, green goop sliming the screen that requires wiping, and the eventual destruction of your ship. The catch is that most of the time, the instruction you are given is for someone else's panel, and the most efficient way to communicate is to simply shout to your team-mate. By the fifth stage, the game easily begins to break down into hilarious verbal expressions, phones and tablets shaken to avoid asteroids, and screens flipped around to escape wormholes. You really just have to see it in action:
Here is a simple concept with brilliant execution. The random panel names and placements are a reminder that unlike most video games, the point is not mastery of the controls. Efficient, effective closed-loop communication under strict time pressure is what saves the day in Space Team. And as laugh-out-loud and fun as the game is, it also forces the development of useful real-world skills. Our successful advancement in the game was in direct correlation to how well we developed a rhythm of communication with each need as it came up (and the speedy resolution necessary.) It would usually work until our nerves and communication would break down under the speed necessary to exchange what was needed and what was already done. By then everyone is shouting excitedly, laughing uncontrollably, and our little virtual ship starts popping and fizzing like the Enterprise on an old Star Trek episode.
I couldn't help but be reminded of my EMT training so many years ago, and the constant necessity for effective communication under duress. If some surgeons are reported to play video games in order to progress and maintain vital hand-eye coordination, and Minecraft is used in schools for creative exercises, Space Team fits perfectly as a game with real-world benefits and application. Plus it's hilarious. And free!
After playing Space Team I recognized how ill-advised my near-complete disregard of the mobile and tablet gaming market has been. Much like the Wii U and 3DS, the best games for the platform tend to be ones fitted to the unique traits of its hardware. From the simplicity of Atari's original Combat, to the brain straining of the Professor Layton series, to the crazy sim-like complexity of Steel Battalion, there are so many experiences video games have to offer, some even with potential real-world benefits. Guess that includes those mini-computers we carry around that I used to play Snake on all the time.
Finally, the Wii U is unwrapped, opened, connected, and already has a sticker or two on it. Our Christmas and New Year vacation is over, and our family had a ton of fun.
The actual video gaming didn't begin until near the end of Christmas day proper, as I had to construct the Mario Kart K'Nex sets for the older kids. The sets were pretty easy to build, and fairly nifty to boot. For the curious:
http://www.amazon.com/Nin...35&sr=8-12&keywords=mario+
So that bought me and my Beloved some food-prep and relax time. The later evening was filled with Wii U game-time, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. I recall reading a 'not yet' purchase recommendation for the system from Kotaku, and I just couldn't disagree more. The Wii U will very likely compete with our PS4 for game-time in the years to come. Here's our impressions of the half-dozen titles we have so far:
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD:
I'm glad this art style survives the ravages of age much better than its contemporaries. Pacing issues aside, I still think this is a marvelous (and gorgeous!) Zelda game. The revisions and gamepad make a great game excellent.
New Super Mario Bros. U
The second most played thus far. Just a fun, fun Mario platformer that becomes a co-op riot with five people playing together. The addition of a gamepad player's ability to add platforms and mess with baddies gives much needed balance to the added challenge of extra players, and the experience just comes together wonderfully. I purposefully pushed off getting 3D World until we finish Mario Wii U and Luigi Wii U, and I'm glad I did so because I think these games deserve their own play-through time.
New Super Luigi U:
A perfect example of an expansion pack done right. Remixed challenges to a superb game. Definitely worth it if you're as big a fan of Mario Wii U as we are.
Nintendoland:
I had not really heard a single positive thing about this one, but we picked it up on sale and I'm so glad we did. I suppose as a single player experience it's not worth full price, but as a multiplayer game it's a blast. The Luigi's Mansion mini-game and Find Mii were reminiscent of our Pac-man Versus nights in the best way. I'm a Balloon Fight fan as it is, and the Nintendoland version was a neat addition. We blazed through the Zelda game and enjoyed it, and then stayed up way too late challenging Kraid and a few tough stages on the Metroid game. Even the F-Zero game got passed around a bit. All in all, Nintendoland was a great party game with a few fun single player experiences I intend on returning to. Nice to pick up on sale if you have the social atmosphere to support it.
Scribblenauts Unlimited:
Here it is, my favorite experience on the Wii U by far. I've championed the series since the clunky but inspired first title, and they've just gotten better with each iteration. (I've yet to grab Unmasked, for the same reasons we have yet to pick up 3D World.) We load this up, the whole family sits on the couch, and we just take turns with the quirky puzzle-solving this game provides. The interesting, creative input young kids offer for solutions is priceless, and even helps us synapse-hardened adults sometimes. Everything about this title is great, from the story to the art to the execution. We've laughed, thought hard, and thoroughly enjoyed this game so far. I see myself going back through this myself on the 3DS version later and coming up with different solutions, it's just so much fun.
Zombi U:
I'll admit I haven't put much time into this, only because I can't play it around the kids. But I have been impressed thus far with the production and tension. I'll have to update about it later, but it definitely interests me because of the use of system exclusive features (particularly the gamepad) and that's exactly what I want to see on the Wii U: games built around the unique features of the system.
Overall, I have to say I'm very happy to own a Wii U. There are still several exclusives out now that I'm excited about, not to mention announced games on the horizon like a new Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Zelda. Even features that may seem like a gimmick, such as playing only on the gamepad, come in handy; my middle child is actually playing on the gamepad, curled up next to me as I type! Perhaps the best part overall is that I definitely feel as though our family is on the same wavelength as Nintendo for this system and it's games.
Most of what's new on the Xbox One, even including the changed policy features, are at best throwaway clutter we won't use, and at worse outright antagonistic toward our entertainment preferences. The PS4 is a great system, but mostly because it is a straight-forward upgrade from the PS3. Nothing wrong with that, and I've already had fun with games that were basically upgrades from the last generation. But with the Wii U, right out of the gate, we're playing interesting twists on old classics or outright new experiences. It feels more fresh. That will fade, no doubt, but the emphasis on couch-co-op and family friendly games are foundationally evident. Sure, I'll play some great new games on what some would coin the 'real' next-gen systems. But it'll already be hard to match the Wii U on outright fun.
Sorry for the server outage earlier today folks. In an attempt to fix up our sandbox server to investigate some new feature work (after we made some adjustments to IP whitelist it to prevent the spam attack we had last time), a table repair on the server maxed out the amount of available RAM the server had. After attempting to wait for it to finish (instead of corrupting the table), the process was killed and server restarted. It took the server well over an hour to come back down to normal operating levels again after that, but the good news is that after the restart the server is blazing fast.
We're investigating the on-going server issues and have a couple leads. We'll let you know more as the time comes, but for now we may consider restarting the server if it runs this smoothly after a restart.
Episode 19 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=13452
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We're back! During the time away, our very own Crabmaster has been busy building his store, Game Quest. We take the time to discuss what the process of opening a store is like, what are the lessons to be learned, and how it effects the owner. Many collectors consider opening a retail store to do what they love, and this will give you a peek at someone that has made it successful.
It's been a bit since we last caught up on the amazing gaming finds that everyone has made. We've changed the format to place the Small Scores after the main topic, so make sure to stay tuned to hear about all of the fantastic things that everyone has picked up.
Show Notes
Japan Retro Direct: http://www.gamegavel.com/sites/famicomvinnk/
Game Quest: https://www.facebook.com/GameQuestPrinceGeorge
Music: Silpheed (SEGA-CD)
8:25 Opening a Game Store
1:25:00 Small Scores
4:48:38 Outro
[img width=700 height=560]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/windwakermischiefmakers_zps09f10f71.jpg[/img]
Welcome to 2014 everyone!
The Community Playthrough team would like to wish everybody all the best in the new year and we've come up with a great way to kick off a new calendar of gaming.
Get ready to cause some trouble in January with Ultra-Intergalactic-Cyber-G, Marina Liteyears in Mischief Makers for the Nintendo 64. Shake Shake your way to victory on planet Clancer to save Professor Theo in this month's Retro Community Playthrough.
The Modern Community Playthrough is the place for adventurous heroes. Join Link as he sails the wide seas in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the Nintendo GameCube, and now in glorious HD, on the Nintedo Wii U. Perilous battles, fantastic discoveries, and epic dungeons await the brave.
We would also like to sincerely thank the amazing Crabmaster for starting this great community activity. It's always so much fun to play a game as a group and we owe that pleasure to you. Thank you!
Ready to play?
Head on to the discussion threads and join the fun!
Mischief Makers Discussion Thread
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Discussion Thread
Happy New Year! Its hard to believe another year has come and gone, and just as I was getting used to dating stuff with 2013...
2013 wasn't an easy year for RFGeneration, with temporary outages and performance issues have been occasionally plaguing us the last couple months, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. Luckily for us, things don't have to be so easy when you have hundreds of awesome members helping out. With so many people each doing a small share, we no longer have to employ a dozen children in China to fill in the tedious information. But who needs them when you have slaves members who will work for free? Kidding aside, we really do appreciate all the work every one of you do here at the site. Whether its just a small page edit to fix a typo or adding every game for a system that's been neglected.
And boy, did we ever have a lot of submissions in 2013. How many, you ask? 44,373 total submissions if you must know. The best part of that IMO is that more than half were images, which are always awesome to have more of.
So, who submitted the most this year? It was our very own DB Reviewer, Bildtstar with a truly astounding 5542 submissions this year, that averages out to more than 15 submissions every single day in 2013. I tip my hat to you sir, and I suggest everyone else does so as well.
Up next, we have DB Editor ApolloBoy with 3909 submissions. Thanks man, you've been here since week #6 and have made over 20,000 submissions over the years, more than all but one other member.
Next is a fairly new member, joining in only November, he has somehow managed to rack up 3331 submissions. Keep up the pace Kaysow, and you'll do just fine here.
And our last member to get over 3000 submissions this year, the world famous Crabmaster2000. Somehow, between shoveling a mountain of snow 9 months out of the year, co-hosting the greatest podcast of all time, and running his own store, this man has managed to make 3280 submissions this year.
As an honorable mention, I'd also like to thank Shadow Kisuragi not only for his 2910 submissions this year, but for his tireless and never ending work on keeping the site running. He and bickman2k are out there every day in the code trenches fighting bugs as well as trying to bring new functions and features to the site.
But that's not everyone, I'd also like to thank the following people for making over 1,000 submissions in 2013. Tynstar, ericeskapade, CoinCollector, thegreatska, Sirgin, and Razor Knuckles. And thanks to the other 240 of you who made another 14,500 submissions.
If you're sad that your name isn't listed here, there is a simple solution, just submit more. Its simple to do and is even a bit addictive. Start out simple with the games you know well and then move onto things you're less familiar with.
And if every game page you look at it is full on information and pictures but you still want to help out, there is always the option to help us out financially. We haven't started our annual donation drive yet, but that doesn't mean you can't beat the crowds and get that donation in early. Just hit the button below and chip in a few bucks.
Happy New Year!
As previously mentioned, we have a very social home, and we host a New Year's party every year. Of course, we have some great party games set up! And the highlights of our New Years parties are often, naturally, video games.
We've cycled through all sorts of favorites. During the Dreamcast years, popular multiplayer games included Virtua Tennis, Red Dog (No kidding! MP is lots of fun!), Fur Fighters, and lots and lots of Unreal Tournament.
Fast forward a few years, and 16 player Halo LAN parties ruled the night. (With a bit of Crimson Skies and Mech Assault.)
A few more years and we grew into Gears of War 2/3, COD: BO Zombies, and ODST: Fire Fight LAN matches that kept us up long past the Times Square Ball dropping.
And some games have always been in the rotation, including many renditions of Bomberman, Guitar Heros and Dance Dance Revolutions.
If I had to pick a favorite New Year's party video game moment, it would be split between two:
Playing 4 player Rock Band all night until we finished the last set list and watched the credits. We had no idea this game had a credits screen. Or any ending.
Then there was the night many years ago where my greatest 2D fighter/Dance Dance Revolution rival and I decided to settle our score once and for all. I tended to barely win more often on Street Fighter Alpha 3, and he would generally defeat me on Dance Dance. So the obvious next step was to load up Street Fighter Alpha 3 on a Playstation, plug in two dance pads instead of controllers, and fight each-other as God intended; skill against skill alone.
It. Was. Hilarious.
We wore ourselves out after only three matches (I got him two out of three!) because, let me tell you, it's harder than it looks. But so worth it. Ryu and Ken twitched and jerked about like they were in a Lady Gaga video. And I hope that's the last reference to Lady Gaga I ever make, ever.
Other than video games, we've kept coming back to some other favorites including Jenga, Battletech, HeroScape, and Jamaican Scrabble.
Well, whatever you do this year and into next, I sincerely hope you're New Year's Eve is as fun as ours! Feel free to share some great New Years Eve experiences (gaming or otherwise) and stay safe out there!!
To all the staff, members, and visitors of RFGeneration, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Even for those of us gamers who are greatly opposed to the materialistic nature and family stress inherent to the season, we enjoy getting surprised by awesome gaming-related gifts. Despite some tough times in my childhood, one particular game-related Christmas memory will forever grant some occasionally much-needed holiday cheer and appreciation for the thankless job my parents often faced.
Many moons ago, in the ancient age of '93, I was working a pretty rough construction job after high-school. I hardly saw my parents, and though they knew my many interests, any parent knows that's a far cry from knowing exactly what to get. So they called up my then-best friend Thor.
Yes, that's his name. Yes, it fit him perfectly.
Thor, as eclectic as his name implies, grew up with a gaming mother. And while he was very specific about what he would play, he was just as into video games as I was. Thor's family was the first I knew of to get the awesome machine that was the Turbo Duo, shortly after launch. Including the hidden Bomberman, this beast came packaged with seven (!) games covering a broad spectrum of genres; Ys Book I & II, Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, Gate of Thunder (still a favorite!) and a TurboChip copy of Ninja Spirit.
Needless to say, Thor's house was very popular amongst our friends.
(The following was relayed to me after-the-fact, obviously.)
So when my folks gave my best friend a call and asked what to get me, his natural response was to talk-up what I played at his house every weekend. Then, likely because my parents were unaware of the excellent pack-ins, they asked what game to pick up with the system. Because Thor was the best friend a gamer could ask for at the time, he said something along the lines of, "well, he likes Castlevania games a lot, and they make one for it. So probably that one."
Did I mention I love this guy? I love this guy.
Since the cost of the Turbo Duo far exceeded any gift I had ever received at that point, I'm under the opinion that my parents probably had no idea that Devil's Castle Dracula X: Rondo of Blood was import only, or how much that would cost them by the time they found it. I imagine that by the time they took the effort to track it down in pre-internet '93, they had already spent so much time and effort to get it that they probably gritted their teeth and bought it despite the total cost.
Now we didn't have much money growing up. Most of my gaming after the C64 and a surprise NES to the family was through systems I bought or traded to get myself. So I cannot explain to you how impressive this Christmas was to me. Maybe it was because I was hardly at home and my mom wanted to give one last big hug. I'm not sure, though now as a parent myself I can identify with the occasional 'wow-I-shouldn't-have-spent-that-much-but-its-my-kid-so-OK' frame of mind.
I can't relay how blown away I was after opening that Turbo Duo. Or how over-the-top it was to open up Dracula X. (Or how frustrated my dad was after learning that we had to buy another expensive adapter to play the RCA AV cable only output on our RF only 25" console TV.) But my parents sure knew they had a happy teen that Christmas. I still cherish that memory.
In an unfortunate turn of events, things at home got much rougher the next few years, so perhaps I was blessed with that burning-bright moment beforehand. Either way, when it comes to physical Christmas presents, I have to admit that one is my childhood best. I played that system until I finished almost every game it came with more than once. (well, not Ninja Spirit. Man is that a hard game!) And I've gone through Dracula X more than perhaps any game I've owned, and still enjoy it today.
Now of course I'm not saying gifts (even gaming gifts!) are the point or should even be a focus over the holiday. But I hope that everyone has some great, cherished Christmas memories, and if they have some video games included there, even better!
So if you have some fun gaming or non-gaming related Christmas memories, please share,
God Bless, and GAME ON!!
We're all familiar with the modern FPS conventions. Character movement with an analog stick or keyboard, a 3D 'look' with another analog or mouse, and often a jump and shoot button. Some games, like Battlefield 4, add layer upon layer of complexity, strategy, and high player population to take this control mechanism to its current extreme. This control method and design is now so ubiquitous that it is often just called the 'shooter' genre, snatching the moniker from the recently retitled 'shmup' classification in the common gamer vernacular.
In the common gamer mindset, this particular convention of game design is so entrenched that the occasional rethink and upset can lead to something remarkable. Perhaps the most popular recent example has been the Amnesia series, which purposefully take away combat and focus on a helpless, tension-filled atmosphere to excellent effect. Plenty of other games such as the Thief series and newcomer Dishonored also put more thought into interacting with the game world itself instead of using the environment as a shooting gallery. Perhaps the greatest example of using the FPS design to give an open-ended, choose-your-own-adventure setup while still obeying the norms of FPS design has been the Deus Ex series, the first of which is often still regarded as one of the greatest games ever made. In fact, from the Elder Scrolls series to the Portal games to RealMyst, the FPS has proven far more robust than golden oldies like Quake suggested.
So when a game uses this design in a unique way, it still surprises because the modern gamer has seen so much variation with this interface methodology. Enter The Unfinished Swan, a fascinating game/storytelling method/interactive art project. The opening narrative tells of a recently orphaned youth whose mother never finished her paintings. Taking a single, minimalist painting of an unfinished swan to the orphanage, the child notices one day that the creature has disappeared from the painting, and he begins pursuit.
Then, the screen goes white and no other clues, hints, or tutorials are given. Through sheer experimentation, the player quickly realizes that a button press ejects a round glob of black paint that splatters against the white space, revealing walls, objects, and an entire environment to navigate, with loose paths to follow. Too much black paint hurled against surfaces begin to obscure their details, since at the beginning the only thing giving definition to the environment is the contrast between the white space and the hurled, splattered paint. Color is shown sparingly, to call attention to a handful of objects or show the foot-paths of the absent fowl. Cue 'wild goose chase' pun.
While the color is almost exclusively black and white, the sound is also minimalist, with more environmental sounds heard as more of the world is revealed. A simple jump is the only other control besides the conventional move, look, and 'shooting' paint. More narrative is told as the game progresses by using the simple tools of the game and a storybook-like series of reveals.
The pace is slow, purposeful, experimental, whimsical, and best of all, playful. Other games of this ilk such as Dear Esther or the recent critical darling Gone Home have a moody, voyeuristic design, but the difference with The Unfinished Swan is that the interaction with the environment figuratively and literally defines the game. Better still, it uses this original interaction method as a story device that feels intrinsic and holistic, instead of tacked-on or forced. Whereas some artistic game worlds are criticized for force-feeding standard game conventions into an otherwise complete virtual experience (the Bioshock series are popular examples) The Unfinished Swan feels like a complete experience defined by how its gameplay is intrinsic to storytelling.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, please take the plunge and grab it from the PSN. It's worth it just to see something different, interesting, and in my opinion, wonderful. Seeing a 'normal' game design used like this inspires me to continue believing that our hobby has far more to give us in the future, even using the familiar.
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